


What Brings You to Idaho?

by YouCanJive



Series: Time is the Longest Distance (Between Two Places) [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Protective Parents, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Talk of the age gap, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, meet the parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-30 23:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19414045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouCanJive/pseuds/YouCanJive
Summary: The Lewis family home was bigger than Tony had been expecting.The front door opened as soon as Tony closed the car door, and there stood a stout woman with riotous dark curls around her face and, just behind her, seemingly bouncing with excitement, was Darcy.





	1. The Talk

This was awkward.

And Tony just knew that it was only going to get more and more awkward as the evening went on because he was about to have dinner with his sixteen-year-old soulmate and her family, to whom she had lied about his existence for months. And his soulmate’s father had offered himself to pick up Tony from the hotel in a way that made it clear that it was not an offer, but an order, and that he was not just picking him up, but about to give him a stern talking-to.

Tony needed a drink. But he’d already had two while he waited for Chuck Lewis to come get him, and a third before he’d even arrived at dinner (there would be wine, right? Or beer?) was probably not going to help his case.

And Tony was surprised to realize that he really _cared_ about how the evening went. He knew Darcy’s parents were probably not going to like him, by any stretch of the imagination, but he hoped they’d at least tolerate him. He knew he was not a great man and he would never be a great soulmate. Darcy had drawn the short stick of the soulmate lottery. But… he hoped to at least be a decent soulmate.

In the aftermath after meeting Darcy for the first time, Tony had tried to pretend like nothing had happened. Except that he couldn’t stop thinking about the girl with the too-big eyes in a too-big bed, assuring him he _wouldn’t have to deal with a fifteen-year-old soulmate for too long_ and something in him just hurt deep down to the bones every time he remembered.

So he told Pepper that the kid was important and to always put her calls through and help her out if she asked. And then he did a lot of research on Hodgkin’s lymphoma and its treatment in children.

At night, when the parties were over and the women were gone and the booze was starting to wear off, he thought about what a terrible soulmate he was to this little girl.

He wondered if he would be a good soulmate for a dead girl. He was clearly not great at moving on after losing important people, but he wasn’t sure if his particular brand of mourning would suit Darcy Lewis.

When the phone call had come, he’d been so sure he was about to find out just what it meant to spend the rest of his life mourning somebody he’d never allowed himself to know. Instead, he’d gotten an earful of a very enthusiastic sixteen-year-old soulmate, cancer-free and eager to catch up on everything her disease had kept her from. In her view, her soulmate was one of those things.

And so, here Tony Stark was, in the lobby of the Kootenai River Inn Casino & Spa, trying his darndest not to order another drink and waiting for his soulmate’s father to come pick him up in what he sincerely hoped was not a tractor, but wouldn’t put beyond the realm of the possible given what he had seen of Bonners Ferry, Idaho on his way in.

The Inn wasn’t too busy, so when the door opened and in walked a man with dark hair and a stubborn, square jaw like Darcy’s, Tony had to assume it was Chuck Lewis. The man waved at a couple of the workers behind the welcome desk and shook hands with one of the guards near the door, but the way his shoulders stiffened and his expression seemed to close off as soon as his eyes landed on Tony told him he was right.

Up close, her soulmate’s father was just a few inches taller than Tony, but had a clearly broader and stronger build. Tony recalled from JARVIS’s report on Bonners Ferry that it was a farming and lumbering town, and he could clearly see Chuck doing either.

“Hi, Chuck,” he said in his most charming tone, reaching his hand out, “I’m Tony–”

“I know who you are, Mr. Stark,” Chuck replied, his tone dry and his eyes cold. He did not shake Tony’s hand. “Why don’t we sit down for a minute? I thought we could talk for a bit while the girls finish setting up back home.”

Tony nodded and motioned for Chuck to lead the way. He was glad to see him take them towards a small circle of chairs in the lobby rather than to the bar. He would have definitely gotten another drink if they had this talk in the bar.

“Mr. Stark, I hope you’ll understand my discomfort with this situation,” Chuck started, leaning forward to plant his elbows on his knees and looking Tony straight in the eye. “But Darcy is a sweet girl and she is not a liar, so you’ll understand my concern when I learned she met her soulmate and didn’t tell us for months. Especially once it turned out her soulmate is twenty years her senior and… has a certain reputation.”

“Look, Chuck, I understand. I wanted to speak with you from –” Again, Chuck interrupted him.

“Mr. Stark, are you a pedophile?”

The question was posed in a deceptively calm and straight-forward way, but Chuck’s eyes were burning with it and Tony’s heart _stopped_. He should have seen the question coming but he had not. He knew Darcy was his soulmate. He knew what that relationship almost inevitably developed into. But Darcy was a _child_ and the thought of her as a romantic or sexual partner had never even occurred to him. He’d been so sure he’d never see her again that even just the thought of _friendship_ with her hadn’t even occurred to him until she’d called him that summer to let him know she was still alive.

“I ask,” Chuck continued, when Tony hadn’t replied for a few seconds, “because you’ve been photographed in the company of women significantly younger than you. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. I know the magazines and the gossip don’t reflect the truth. But this is my little girl, Mr. Stark, and your words on her skin don’t mean I have to let you… let you use her and hurt her however you want.”

“Christ, no, sir” (and when had he started calling him ‘sir’?) “I swear to you, that’s not… I’m not… I would never. I don’t see Darcy that way. I just…” Tony drifted off as a thought occurred to him and spread through his body like icy needles. “Did she say something? Did I…” He tried to remember their first meeting. He didn’t even think he’d touched her. He’d barely even said anything. Did she think…?

Chuck’s stance seemed to relax slightly at Tony’s clear horror.

“No. Darcy says you were pretty horrified to find out your soulmate was a child and that you are completely above-board. She thinks you’re going to be best friends. But Darcy is sweet and sees the good in everyone. And felt the need to hide her soulmate from her parents for months. And I don’t know you. So you’ll excuse me if I don’t just take my sixteen-year-old daughter’s word that nothing untoward is or will be happening.”

“I understand. Really. She’s… she’s your daughter, you want to protect her.” Tony paused, thinking about his own parents. Would his father have had a talk like this if the situation had been reversed? “I’ll do whatever you need to be comfortable with this. I just want to get to know her.”

Tony shocked himself with his sincerity. But it was true. Ever since he’d thought his soulmate was dead, he’d found himself thinking about her. Wondering what she was like, that the universe had thought her perfectly suited for him, and vice versa. Even from a distance, after just one phone call and a couple emails, Tony found his thoughts turning to Darcy at the oddest moments: halfway through testing out a prototype, he wondered if she liked science; sitting through another interminable board meeting, he wondered if she was dutiful or maybe just a little rebellious; when he walked past a group of teens out for a pre-prom dinner, he wondered if she had a big group of friends or if she was more of a loner. He wondered if she had similar questions about him and hoped she wouldn’t look to google or the press for answers.

And this… this was just a father, a small-town guy with little but his home and his little plot of land to his name, standing up to _Tony Stark_ in order to protect his daughter. Tony often made light of bravery, calling it impulsiveness or ignorance, but he had to admire Chuck Lewis’s boldness here.

Chuck didn’t look especially comforted or comfortable with the situation, but he appeared to stand down for now, at least. With a final clap of his hands on his knees, he stood up and finally stretched out his hand to shake Tony’s. Tony shot to his feet and put his hand in his.

“I’m going to keep an eye on you. And there’ll definitely be some rules, at least until Darce’s eighteen. But I’m going to trust you, Stark. Don’t make me regret it.”

Chuck Lewis drove an old pick-up truck. Tony tried not to make a face when he saw it. It ran smooth as silk.

The Lewis family home was bigger than Tony had been expecting.

Then again, there was really nothing but space for a home here. Tony had grown up in New York City, where there was barely enough room to build new homes, let alone to expand existing ones. (Stark Mansion was an exception, of course.)

The leaves were already turning in the trees and there was smoke coming out of the chimney and a gentle, warm light seeping out of the windows in the front part of the home. It was… homey.

The front door opened as soon as Tony closed the car door, and there stood a stout woman with riotous dark curls around her face and, just behind her, seemingly bouncing with excitement, was Darcy.


	2. The Dinner

Tony was startled to realize this was a Shabbat dinner.

Not because he was unfamiliar with Judaism (he was a New Yorker, after all), but because he hadn’t expected to find a Jewish home in the middle of nowhere, Idaho. Darcy’s mom (who, like her husband, kept calling him Mr. Stark, but introduced herself as Beatrice) must have noticed his surprise. Once the candles were lit and the blessings sung, she turned to Tony.

“There’s not much of a Jewish presence in Bonners Ferry –” Darcy snorted into her water glass and Beatrice gave her a playfully exasperated look “– but I grew up in a primarily Jewish community in Maryland, and it’s meaningful to me to keep up the tradition. We fell out of the habit of going to temple out in Spokane over the last few years, but we’ve been trying to get out there every few weeks and for the High Holidays again.”

Darcy’s head dropped and Tony surmised that having to get out to the hospital in Boise with some frequency had played a hand in the halting of the trips to Spokane.

“If you don’t mind my asking: how did you end up in Bonners Ferry if you grew up in Maryland, Beatrice?” Tony continued, trying to shift the topic slightly.

Beatrice and Darcy laughed, and even Chuck smiled, his eyes softening and crinkles appearing around his eyes as he looked at his wife. Tony wondered what he’d said that was so funny, though he was certainly not complaining at the relaxed atmosphere.

“Sorry,” Beatrice explained, “it’s just that people ask me that question all the time,” she continued, and her voice was still laced with laughter as she pulled up the sleeve of her sweater and flipped her arm. Along her forearm, in dark black lettering, it read _What brings you to Idaho?_ “Growing up with that mark, I decided to give myself every chance and came out to Idaho for college. I met Chuck my freshman year and after that it was just a matter of moving upstate.”

“That explains that,” Tony agreed good-humoredly. “What did you study?”

“Biochem. It’s a good thing, or I don’t know where Chuck and I would have ever crossed paths! He’d left the General Chem requirement for off until his last semester, so he ended up in a class full of freshmen. It was a massive lecture class, so it’s a miracle we met. But I guess that’s the whole point, isn’t it?”

There were many different views on soulmarks. Some saw the marks themselves as miracles, putting you on a path to meet your soulmate. Others saw them as suggestions, which could be heeded or not, and others even as curses, ruining or blinding you to other perfectly good relationships. There _were_ soulmate relationships that did not work out, after all, and people in relationships with people they did not match with, but who loved each other deeply. Some thought soulmarks had deep effects on each person’s psyche, while others thought they were just an evolutionary anomaly.

Tony didn’t know if his soulmark had been a miracle or if it had deeply impacted who he was as a person. He did not think the offer to hide under a bed had really shaped him. But he couldn’t deny that knowing that there was somebody out there with whom he had at least the potential for true, unconditional, deep companionship… Tony was a practiced actor – he could hide the truth from others and even from himself with ease – but he could not deny to himself that he was lonely and that the thought appealed to him. He wanted the soulmark to mean something, and for his soulmate to become something to him. He absentmindedly rubbed the space over his left ribs where Darcy’s words marked him as her soulmate.

When he looked up, Darcy was staring at him.

“What did you study in school, Mr. Stark?”

It sounded strange to hear his soulmate call him “Mr. Stark,” and he couldn’t help but wonder if her parents’ insistence on doing the same was not meant as a model for her, to mark his distance from them and to remind him she was a child and he an adult. As if he could ever forget.

“Computer Science,” Tony stated matter-of-factly, “then Mechanical Engineering, Physics, and Robotics. A bit of overkill, I know, and I realize you don’t need the classes and the degree to just _do the thing_ without the degree. But I was a bit of a show-off back then,” he continued, winking at Darcy to acknowledge the irony of the past tense he was using, “and I liked showing up the academic snobs.” And his father, and the press that claimed he was just another mediocre rich kid, with no talent and a name to get him into MIT at fourteen, he added in his head. “How about you, Darcy? What’s your favorite subject at school?” That was a normal question to ask a teenager, right? Outside of his limited interactions with Darcy he hadn’t interacted with a teenager since before he’d been one himself.

“I feel like that’s a trick question, when my mother is my science teacher,” Darcy replied playfully. “But these days I’m really enjoying my theater class. I was homeschooled while I was sick, and there was no drama program at my middle school, so I’ve never gotten to do a class like that before. It’s really cool to use your whole body to tell stories like that.”

“Darcy’s going to audition for the school play next week,” Chuck pitched in, his voice thick with pride. “They’re doing Dürrenmatt’s _The Visit_.”

“Wow. That’s great. Break a leg, Darcy,” he encouraged awkwardly. Would it be weird to offer to come see her in the play if she made it? Should he ask her parents before he offered? His talk with Chuck – his fucking question – had left him off-kilter, stepping on eggshells when it came to interacting directly with Darcy. So instead he turned his attention back to Chuck. “Are you the source of Darcy’s interest in the arts, then?”

“I don’t know about that. I’m a pretty practical guy. I didn’t know who Dürrenmatt was until Darcy came home with the script a couple weeks ago and asked me to help her with her audition scene. But I did use to read Darcy fairy tales, and we read _Harry Potter_ and _The Lord of the Rings_ together when she got old enough. She always liked playing at being in the books and that sort of thing.”

Chuck’s eyes twinkled as he recalled Darcy’s childhood, and he kept his eyes on her even as he spoke to Tony. He sounded like a good father, and Tony could envision the bulky man coming in from a day at the lumber yard, washing up, then sitting down with a tiny Darcy on his lap to read _The Hobbit,_ then getting down on all fours and pretending to be the Smaug to her Bilbo. It was such an endearing image and so unlike his own relationship with his father, Tony didn’t know how to react to it.

Darcy didn’t seem to think his silence was uncomfortable, or to even notice it, as she launched into a story about her father building her a Harry Potter-themed treehouse and decorating it in her house colors (the yellow and black of Hufflepuff, _of course_ ). Tony nodded and _ooh’d_ and _aah’d_ at all the right spots even as he mentally scolded himself for his awkwardness. He reached for his wine glass and drank deeply.

When dinner was over, Chuck cleared the table and quickly loaded the dishwasher with Darcy’s help. Back in the dining room, Beatrice and Tony sat in silence as Tony tried to think of something to say. His problem was usually that he spoke too much, but he was terrified he might say the wrong thing here, and Darcy’s parents would forbid him from ever contacting Darcy again.

Legally, it was a grey zone. It was usually illegal to keep soulmates apart against their wishes, but he didn’t think the law really accounted for soulmate relationships between adults and minors – at least not those with such a large age difference between them. The parents’ rights would probably take precedence in such a case. Tony made a mental note to have Pepper look into it.

Beatrice saved Tony from having to make small talk of any kind.

“I can see you’re really trying to be in your best behavior right now,” she pointed out.

“Right. Yes, I just… I mean…” Should he agree that he was, because he was trying for Darcy, or would she take that to mean he was putting on an act? He mentally cursed himself again for playing into the media and its expectations of him over the years.

“I appreciate that you’re trying. That you’re trying to do what’s best for Darcy. But,” and here her voice turned cold, even as it remained quiet enough Darcy and Chuck would not be able to hear it over the clinking of the dishes, “you should know that Chuck went to pick you up and talk with you instead of me because he worried I would scare you away. Because if I ever suspect you of hurting my daughter in any way, I don’t care how wealthy you are or how many lawyers and bodyguards you have, _I will end you_.” Tony had no trouble believing her. “Are we clear, Mr. Stark?”

“Crystal.”

In the kitchen, Chuck splashed Darcy and she squeaked, then laughed raucously.

When it came time for him to leave, Darcy surprised him by launching herself at him to give him a hug. After a momentary pause at the unexpected act, Tony wrapped his arms around her, too, and squeezed gently. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been hugged. Had it felt this warm, this right? Darcy felt so solid but so small in his arms, and Tony felt something that had been cold and hard deep inside him soften at the feel of her in his arms. A cough from Beatrice made him pull away, but he put his hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eye for the first time all evening.

“I am so glad I met you, Darcy.”

She ducked her head, letting her hair falling across her face, but when she looked up again she was smiling.

“Me, too, Mr. Stark. Thank you for coming to dinner.”

“It was my genuine pleasure.” And, much to his surprise, it had been, awkwardness and threats and all. “We should do it again sometime.”

Darcy nodded. “Um… in the meantime… I mean, if you want,” she slipped her hand in her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, clearly ripped from a school notebook, then handed it to him. “That’s my email. If you want to… you know. Talk, or something.”

Behind Darcy, Tony saw Chuck and Beatrice exchange a look that told him they would most definitely be keeping an eye on Darcy’s email usage. He understood. But it also frustrated him. She was his soulmate. He was hers. They had no right to make it feel wrong for him to reach out to her, or vice versa. To make something so pure feel so suspect.

But Darcy was still looking up at him, so he tried to disguise his frustration and smiled for her. He’d been so uncertain of every interaction he had with her so far, but her parents were going to distrust him one way or another, so he might as well let himself really speak with her.

“I’ll definitely use it. I’ll send you a message tonight so you have mine, too. You’ll need it to tell me about your audition.”

Darcy _beamed_ in response.

Tony was quiet during the ride back to the hotel. He was still nervous about the entire situation. He was by no means the perfect soulmate for a teenage girl ( _for anyone_ , said the little voice in his head that sounded like Howard). He would inevitably let Darcy down eventually. But tonight, Darcy’s smile had been honest, and it had been for him. So maybe it was selfish, but he was going to enjoy it, and do his best to draw it out of her again. (He ignored the voice that said it was only a matter of time before he ruined it all.)


End file.
